Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and since the 2008 NFL season through the 2012 NFL season, play one home game per season and three pre-season games in Toronto as part of the 5-year Bills Toronto Series. The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a league championship since then. Buffalo is also the only team to win four consecutive American Football Conference Championships, the only team in either conference to play in four consecutive Super Bowl games, and the only team ever to lose four consecutive Super Bowls. The Bills were named as the result of the winning entry in a local contest by Michael Doucas, which named the team after the AAFC Buffalo Bills, a previous football franchise from the All-America Football Conference that merged with the Cleveland Browns in 1950. That team was named after the historic Buffalo Bill. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The official mascot is Billy Buffalo; Cody is not used in the team's iconography at all. They are the only New York NFL team to play their home games within New York state proper. Both the New York Giants and the New York Jets play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, nine miles from their headquarters in New York City. With the inception of the 5-year Bills Toronto Series deal in 2008, that is good through 2012, they are the only NFL team to play a home game in Canada. The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, an eastern suburb of Rochester. ContentsEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills# hide *1 History *2 Logos and uniforms *3 Players of note **3.1 Current players **3.2 Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recipients **3.3 Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame **3.4 Pro Football Hall Of Fame **3.5 Retired numbers **3.6 All-time first round draft picks **3.7 Recent Pro Bowl selections *4 Coaches of note **4.1 Head coaches **4.2 Current staff *5 Radio and television *6 Training camp sites *7 Mascots, cheerleaders and marching band *8 In popular culture *9 Notes and references *10 See also *11 External links |} http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=1 edit HistoryEdit Main article: History of the Buffalo BillsMain article: List of Buffalo Bills seasons http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=2 edit Logos and uniforms [4][5]Buffalo Bills uniform: 1975-1983 *solid red socks were worn from '82-'83[6][7]Buffalo Bills uniform: 1987-2001[8][9]Buffalo Bills uniform 2002-2010In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet.[1] In 1962, the team's colors also changed to red, white, and blue. The team switched to blue jerseys with red and white stripes on the shoulders. the helmets were white with a red center stripe.[2] By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.[3] The Bills introduced blue pants worn with the white jerseys in 1973, the last year of the standing buffalo helmet. The blue pants remained through 1985. The face mask on the helmet was blue from 1974 through 1986 before changing to white. In 1974, the standing bison logo was replaced by a blue charging one with a red slanting stripe streaming from its horn. In 1984, the helmet's background color was changed from white to red, primarily to help Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson distinguish them more readily from three of their division rivals at that time, the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots, who all also wore white helmets at that point. Ferguson said that "Everyone we played had white helmets at that time. Our new head coach Kay Stephenson just wanted to get more of a contrast on the field that may help spot a receiver down the field."[4] (The Patriots now use a silver helmet, the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, and the New York Jets, who switched to green helmets after the 1978 season, have since switched back to white helmets.) In 2002, under the direction of general manager Tom Donahoe, the Bills' uniforms went through radical changes. A darker shade of blue was introduced as the main jersey color, and nickel gray was introduced as an accent color. Both the blue and white jerseys featured red side panels. The white jerseys included a dark blue shoulder yoke and royal blue numbers. The helmet remained primarily red with one navy blue, two nickel, two royal blue, two white stripes, and white face mask. A new logo, a stylized B consisting of two bullets and a more detailed buffalo head on top, was proposed and had been released (it can be seen on a few baseball caps that were released for sale), but fan backlash led to the team retaining the running bison logo. The helmet logo adopted in 1974—a charging royal blue bison, with a red streak, white horn and eyeball—remained unchanged. In 2005, the Bills revived the standing bison helmet and uniform of the mid-1960s as a throwback uniform. The Bills usually wore the all-blue combination at home and the all-white combination on the road when not wearing the throwback uniforms. They stopped wearing blue-on-white after 2006, while the white-on-blue was not worn after 2007. For the 2011 season, the Bills unveiled a new uniform design, an updated rendition of the 1975–83 design. This change includes a return to the white helmets with "charging buffalo" logo, and a return to royal blue instead of navy. Buffalo sporadically wore white at home in the 1980s, but stopped doing so before their Super Bowl years. On November 6, 2011 against the New York Jets, the Bills wore white at home for the first time since 1986. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=3 edit Players of noteEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=4 edit Current playersEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=5 edit Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award RecipientsEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=6 edit Buffalo Bills Wall of FameEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=7 edit Pro Football Hall Of FameEdit *O.J. Simpson (1985) *Billy Shaw (1999) *Marv Levy (2001) *Jim Kelly (2002) *James Lofton (2003) *Joe DeLamielleure (2003) *Thurman Thomas (2007) *Bruce Smith (2009) *Ralph Wilson (2009) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=8 edit Retired numbersEdit *12 Jim Kelly, QB, 1986–96[8] Unofficially retired *32 O.J. Simpson, RB, 1969–77 *34 Thurman Thomas, RB, 1988–99; Cookie Gilchrist, RB, 1962–64 *78 Bruce Smith, DE, 1985–99 (although guard Ruben Brown used 78 as his practice jersey; he wore 79 on the field) Reduced circulation[9] *15 Jack Kemp, QB, 1962–69 *44 Elbert Dubenion, WR, 1960–68 *66 Billy Shaw, OG, 1961–69 *83 Andre Reed, WR, 1985–99 Since the earliest days of the team, the number 31 was not supposed to be issued to any other player. The Bills had stationery and various other team merchandise showing a running player wearing that number, and it was not supposed to represent any specific person, but the 'spirit of the team.' The tradition was broken in 1969 when reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber was issued number 31 for one game while his normal number 36 jersey was repaired by equipment manager Tony Marchitte. The number 31 was not issued again until 1990 when first round draft choice James (J.D.) Williams wore it for his first two seasons. The number has since been released for use by any player and is currently being worn by starting free safety Jairus Byrd. Byrd had used number 32 in college, but switched to 31 because the team does not issue Simpson's former number 32.[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=9 edit All-time first round draft picksEdit 1960s[10] 1970s[10] 1980s[10] 1990s[10] 2000s 1 In addition to their own pick (11th overall), the Bills received the 28th overall pick, as well as a fourth-round pick (121st overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, from the Philadelphia Eagles in a trade for OT Jason Peters http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=10 edit Recent Pro Bowl selectionsEdit *2010 Season - Kyle Williams (Defensive Tackle - Injury Replacement) [11] *2009 Season - Jairus Byrd (Safety) *2008 Season - Jason Peters (Starting Offensive Tackle), Marshawn Lynch (Running Back - Injury Replacement)[12] *2007 Season - Jason Peters (Offensive Tackle), Aaron Schobel (Defensive End - Injury Replacement)[13] *2006 Season - Aaron Schobel (Defensive End), Brian Moorman (Punter)[14] *2005 Season - Brian Moorman (Punter), Mike Schneck (Need Player)[15] *2004 Season - Takeo Spikes (Linebacker), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard)[16] *2002 Season - Drew Bledsoe (Quarterback), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard), Eric Moulds (Wide Receiver), Travis Henry (Running Back - Injury Replacement)[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=11 edit Coaches of noteEdit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=12 edit Head coachesEdit Main article: List of Buffalo Bills head coaches http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=13 edit Current staff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=14 edit Radio and televisionEdit Main article: List of Buffalo Bills broadcastersThe Buffalo Bills Radio Network is currently flagshipped at WGRF FM 96.9 FM, and WEDG FM 103.3. WSPQ AM 1330 is the AM home of the team. John Murphy is the team's current play-by-play announcer; he was a color commentator alongside, and eventually succeeded, longtime voice Van Miller after Miller's retirement at the end of the 2003 NFL season. Mark Kelso serves as the color analyst. The Bills radio network has over twenty affiliates in upstate New York and one affiliate, CJCL 590AM (The Fan) in Toronto. Buffalo is one of eight teams that is contracted with Compass Media Networks to syndicate selected games nationwide. During the preseason, most games are televised on Buffalo's ABC affiliate, WKBW-TV channel 7, with several other affiliates in western New York. These games are simulcast on sister stations WTVH in Syracuse, WICU in Erie, WHAM-TV in Rochester, and beginning in 2008, CITY-TV in Toronto. Ray Bentley, a former Bills linebacker and current AFL on ESPN analyst, does play by play, while CBS analyst and former Bills special teams player Steve Tasker does color commentary on these games. WHAM-TV sports anchor Mike Catalana is the sideline reporter. Since 2008, preseason games have been broadcast in high definition. In the event that regular season (or preseason) games are broadcast by a cable outlet (ESPN or NFL Network), WKBW-TV carries the ESPN or NFL Network feed. THE BILLS MAKE ME WANNA SHOUT is a song played throughout home bills game as a touchdown is scored in favor of the bills. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=15 edit Training camp sitesEdit *1960-1962 Roycroft Inn, East Aurora, New York *1963-1967 Camelot Hotel, Blasdell, New York *1968-1980 Niagara University, Niagara Falls, New York *1981-1999 State University at Fredonia, Fredonia, New York *2000–Present, St. John Fisher College, Pittsford, New York [18] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=16 edit Mascots, cheerleaders and marching bandEdit The Bills' official mascot is Billy Buffalo, an eight-foot tall, anthropomorphic blue American bison who wears the jersey number BB. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The Jills are not owned by the Bills, but instead are a separate organization funded primarily by the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. The Attica High School Marching Band is the official marching band of the Buffalo Bills. Along with the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Redskins, the Bills are one of only three teams in the NFL to designate an official marching band. The Marching Band performs yearly pregame. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bills&action=edit&section=17 edit In popular cultureEdit Howard University's mascot, the Bison, is designed identically to the Buffalo Bills' "charging buffalo" logo. In the 1996 X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", the titular character, a member of a shadowy government cabal, states that the Buffalo Bills will not win a Super Bowl while he lives. Also on The X-Files during the first season on the episode "Roland", in the background you can see a Buffalo Bills poster hanging on the wall, with former Bills Running Back O.J. Simpson on it. The Buffalo Bills were featured on the direct-to-TV movie, Second String and in the Vincent Gallo drama Buffalo 66. The Buffalo Bills are mentioned in the 1995 movie Heavyweights. The character Josh (Shaun Weiss) says 'Perkis caved like the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl" In the 1996 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode S04E01 "Lord of the Flies", At one point, Clark picks up a blue Buffalo Bills hat with the Charging Buffalo emblem in the center and uses it to help disguise himself. Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent/Superman, had previously tried out for the Bills. He also, in a later episode, lets it be known that the Metropolis Mammoths were playing the Bills. Hip hop artist Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson wore a Buffalo Bills away jersey at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. It was an Eric Moulds Jersey, with a Buffalo Bills hat. The Bills are one of the favorite teams of ESPN announcer Chris Berman, who picked the Bills to reach the Super Bowl nearly every year in the 1990s. Berman often uses the catchphrase "no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" Berman gave the induction speech for Bills owner Ralph Wilson when Wilson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. The Bills were also a favorite of late NBC political commentator Tim Russert, a South Buffalo native, who often referred to the Bills on his Sunday morning talk show, Meet the Press.